I love Norman Rockwell paintings. He was known for his illustrations of everyday life in the days of my boyhood. When I look at his paintings, they always bring a smile to my heart, if not to my face. There is a pure, innocent simplicity about his work that resonates of days gone by when life seemed stable and predictable and warm fuzzies abounded in the heart of our nation.Times though, have changed. Normal Rockwell died in 1978. Sadly, it seems that for the most part he took the days he portrayed with him. Now we live in a Homer Simpson world. The ahh’s of society seem to have been filled with a constant barrage of doh’s!
Boys like the Beav and Wally respected their parents, girls, their teachers, their neighbors, even God. Today Bart Simpson has disdain for his dad, is more clever than his teachers, dismisses girls, mocks his neighbors and thinks God is a joke.
I know I must be squarely in the throes of middle age because I find myself thinking, longing for the good-old-days and wondering how on earth we’ve gotten so far off track. But the fact is that it is what it is and we might as well learn to deal with it.
Times change. It’s that simple. We can fight it or even deny it, but the world we live in isn’t a stable place. Thank God, there is a corresponding truth that will sustain the Christian. It’s this: Times change, the world changes, but our Sovereign God never changes.
In the past few years, I’ve been amazed at the changes I’ve seen in the world of my own personal circumstances. My mother died, followed by my dad’s departure a little more than a year ago. My only sibling, my sister who is six years younger than me, faced cancer and, thank God, moved beyond it. We have had major personal challenges in the lives of children, our finances, the loss of friends through death, the ups and downs of a faith-based ministry as well as other matters that I won’t bore you with in this article.
As 2007 came to a close I said to Melanie one day, “The Lord is showing me that I still need to learn more completely who is in control and who isn’t. He is and I’m not.” What a hard lesson that is for me to learn. I know it, but I find myself still needing to know it. Can you relate?
The bottom line is that I cause myself needless stress and grief when I bring my Norman Rockwell expectations into the Homer Simpson world of my daily circumstances. No matter how much we want it to be, life is not a neatly wrapped package with the perfect bow on top. It’s messy. It’s scary at times. It’s unpredictable. And that goes against the grain of every fiber of my fleshly desire to be in control of my world.
What’s the answer? To give up control. To admit that I’m not in charge and I never will be. To know that, as much as it is counter-intuitive to the way I’ve been programmed, grace shows up and shows off best in Springfield, not Mayfield.
It’s not an easy pill to swallow, but it’s the pill that will lead to spiritual rest and emotional stability. The truth is that I saw Norman Rockwell through a child’s eyes. It never was as idyllic as he portrayed. Homer Simpson has always lurked in the shadows of this world. This world is a roller coaster ride, at least from the human perspective. The reality is, though, that there is a God who loves us passionately and who has everything under control. So let’s yield our expectations to the divine decrees of the One who loved us and gave Himself for us.
(This article originally was printed in my ministry newsletter, The Grace Vine, in March, 2008)
Knowing who we are and our identity in Christ we'll play less the 'free will card' and sense more the Sovereignty of God our Daddy and Heavenly Father. In His peace we'll know for certain He never changes and Whose we are in certainty, His alone, and that He's in control, a good Shepherd. Phillip Keller wrote some great books on the subject of what it means to be a shepherd and to be a sheep. Hope centered in God helps us with our expectations and I think how to lower them too. To know God, helps us with His right hand is huge Isaiah 41:10. That verse says to "not look anxiously about you," for He is your God and to "not fear" because He is with you. He strengthens, helps, and upholds you. He has chosen you vs.9. I think of my Dad on this the fifth year anniversary date of his passing and the character of his example because He loved the Lord and was a good Dad now with Jesus.
ReplyDeleteI'm 50 in a few weeks and don't subscribe to the good-old-days theories like just about everyone else I know. For me they were legalistic days -you did what you were told to avoid punishment (and probably did naughty things when no-one was looking!). Appearances also mattered so much - how you appeared to society. Sin was always around, always, even if more hidden. Otherwise Jesus would not have become the sacrifice all that time ago. Some people talk as if sin was only discovered a couple of decades ago.
ReplyDeleteBut as you say, Grace shows up so much better in "Springfield" ("where there is much sin....), just as miracles happen when you need them, not when you don't.
I believe God is pouring out more of His Grace in these times, which makes them good days!
Amen Tashie, God IS pouring grace and these ARE good days. May God's peace guard (garrison, build a fortress around, & strengthen) all our hearts in Christ Jesus Isaiah 26:3; Phil 4:6,7.
ReplyDeletePeace, Dave